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Accelerating future water shortages require development of operational water governance models, as illustrated by three case studies: (1) upstream–downstream interactions in the Aral Sea basin, where science acts as problem recognizer, emphasizing scoping policies; (2) impact and adaptation of climate change on water and food supply in the Middle East and North Africa, where science acts as a mediator between perspectives, emphasizing scoping and a start of implementation policies; and (3) green water credits in Kenya, where science acts as advocate, emphasizing scoping and implementation policies in close interaction with stakeholders, including impulses from applied to basic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU Commission has proposed a way forward towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection based on the distinction of seven soil functions and eight threats. A Technical Working Group on Research defined some 200 general priority research areas in the context of the dynamic DPSIR approach considering drivers, pressures, states, impacts and responses. Though quite valuable as a source document, this may be too generic and academic to be a starting point for new, effective soil research in different regions of the EU. A six-step storyline procedure is therefore proposed aimed at deriving effective operational procedures for a water management unit in a given region, using available soil expertise and defining new research only where needed. The procedure, that was illustrated for a Dutch case study, consists of defining: (i) water management units (wmu''s) in a landscape context; (ii) land-use, area hydrology and soil functions (iii) soil threats and relevant soil qualities; (iv) drivers of land-use change and their future impact; (v) improvement of relevant soil qualities; (vi) possibilities to institutionalize soil quality improvement as part of the EU soil protection strategy. A focus on regional wmu''s is likely to result in a strong commitment of local stakeholders and governmental officials, allowing a more specific DPSIR approach. But this will only work if local officials also receive legal powers to develop and enforce codified ‘good practices’, to be developed in the context of communities of practice. Innovative research topics can be derived from a combined analysis of experiences within different communities of practice in different wmu's and should not be left to researchers to define. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There is a growing awareness that water will be one of the most critical natural resources and that there is a need for better management of the limited water resources. This paper reports on a study of a water-scarce river basin in western Turkey. Hydrological analyses, emphasizing water use for irrigation, are performed at three different spatial scales (field scale, irrigation scheme scale and basin scale) using two kind of model: a parametric basin-scale model and a physically based crop-scale model. Data accessibility for this basin, especially for areal data, was low. A combined use of public domain data sets and remotely sensed data was used to solve this problem. A public domain digital elevation model was used to generate the streamflow network and the distances and slopes to streams. Land-cover data and leaf area index data were derived from public domain NOAA?AVHRR images. For one irrigation scheme in the basin, detailed areal water balances were obtained from the simulation model and a comparison was made between a normal and a water-short year. At the basin scale, observed flows were compared with simulated flows. It is concluded that remotely sensed data and other public domain data can be used with simulation models at different scales to create a powerful tool to evaluate water resources in a basin context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]